NEW YORK, NY.- Mallick Williams & Co. presents their first photography exhibition with artists Filippo Chia and Michael M Koehler. The title Nature/Human reflects the duality of the show: two photographers with two distinctive styles and perspectives. Chia’s pieces are digitally colored prints and Koehler’s traditional black and white photographs. They both explore the same theme of the relationships between people and their environments; a beautiful and touching glimpse into vignettes that naturally occur in life: love, pain, beauty and sadness.

In the words of the artists, “Nature is what makes us Human.” Regardless of humanity’s attempt to be in control, we are consistently reminded that nature is ultimately in command. The exhibition is a testament to the moments in life where nature and humanity collide. The work reveals the tensions existing between the two forces but also asks us to see the beauty in the moments of harmony. Without pain there can be no beauty and without death, life cannot be appreciated.

Michael M. Koehler and Filippo Chia have been friends and collaborators for the past decade. The work in this show reflects their common focus on unproduced natural occurrences and gives us a chance to reflect on the wonders of life.

Michael M. Koehler was raised in Philadelphia and started photographing on the streets where he learned that making photographs was based on the relationship that he shared with his subjects. Michael’s initial experience in Philadelphia and the relationship between nature and the urban environment is an on-going influence on his work. After receiving a B.F.A from New York University Tisch School of the Arts, he worked as a professorial photographer as a staff photographer for both the Philadelphia Tribune and Philadelphia City Paper. Yet, his passion has always been black and white photography and the process of the darkroom, which Michael embraces through his numerous documentary projects. He has traveled extensively across the US, Central America and Europe making pictures and collecting stories and he has lectured about his work at New York University, International Center for Photography and University of Pennsylvania Law School. Michael’s photographs have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the Leica Gallery in New York, the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia, Subliminal Projects Gallery in Los Angeles, Sandro Chia Studio in Rome and the Ricoh Cube Gallery in Tokyo. Michael is a recipient of the Philadelphia Museum of Art Purchase Award, as part of the Perkins Center for the Arts “Photography 29” juried show and was added to the museum’s permanent collection, and the "Artist Wanted" Top 50 portfolio competition.. Michael lives in Philadelphia with his wife and son.

"I photograph because I need to - it is my way of life and how I connect with and understand the world around me. When we are authentically, naturally engaged with another human, we are at our most vulnerable state and mutual trust evolves. The experience is the true gift. For this exchange to occur we both must become open, a gentle process that sometimes is questioned and denied. When the shutter snaps there is a unity created between the outside world and me -we are nothing without each other." – Michael M. Koehler

Filippo Chia, was raised New York City by artists parents. His father is famed Italian artist Sandro Chia. Filippo studied photography at NYU’s Tisch School of Arts. Upon graduation, he showed with the Outlaw Art Museum “NY RISING” group show with fellow artists Dash Snow, Kunle Martins and Nico Ponce de Leon Dios. Chia also collaborated with Lola Schnabel in 2005 on a traveling exhibition for the Tuscan Sun Festival -- they also published a book of their work. He has also spent some time making films, most noteably “La Ciudad del Hip Hop” a gritty and political documentary about the emerging hip hop scene in a small town outside of Havana, Cuba. Chia currently resides in Italy with his children, where he works on his photography.

“The most remarkable moments of our lives usually occur in the most unexpected circumstances. The moments of our lives which are most tempting, most full of mysterious energy are usually recorded by the mind instead of felt by the soul. The process of capturing such moments in a photograph, in which time becomes metaphysical desire when the photograph is transformed by the act of being viewed” – Filippo Chia